Placedhttps://www.businessinsider.com/category/placed
en-usSun, 15 Sep 2019 07:22:21 -0400Sun, 15 Sep 2019 07:22:21 -0400The latest news on Placed from Business Insiderhttps://static3.businessinsider.com/assets/images/bilogo-250x36-wide-rev.pngBusiness Insiderhttps://www.businessinsider.com
https://www.businessinsider.com/david-shim-talks-about-selling-placed-to-snap-and-foursquare-2019-8A founder talks about selling his location-measurement startup to Snap then Foursquare, and how he survived the tough ad-tech climatehttps://www.businessinsider.com/david-shim-talks-about-selling-placed-to-snap-and-foursquare-2019-8
Wed, 14 Aug 2019 12:51:47 -0400Lauren Johnson
<p><img src="https://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5d519d9e3e0b7b04765174f3-1171/screen shot 2019-08-08 at 25305 pm.png" border="0" alt="Foursquare president David Shim" data-mce-source="Foursquare" data-mce-caption="Foursquare president David Shim" /></p><p></p>
<ul class="summary-list">
<li><strong>David Shim sold his location-based measurement firm, Placed, to Foursquare in May with the goal of becoming a one-stop shop for advertisers' location data.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Shim talked to Business Insider about building the eight-year-old firm and having it acquired twice: </strong><strong>Prior to selling the firm to Foursquare, he sold it to Snap for $135 million in 2017.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Shim credits Placed's focus on measurement and a "conservative" approach to advertising in helping his company weather a tough market for ad-tech companies as regulation and privacy concerns grow.</strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prime?module=article&amp;area=summary">Click here for more BI Prime stories</a>.</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>David Shim didn't want to work in advertising when he founded his measurement startup, but the firm has been acquired by <em>two</em> companies that are betting big on location-based ads.</p>
<p>In May, Foursquare acquired Placed, Shim's location-based measurement firm, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/foursquares-acquisition-of-placed-will-shake-up-location-based-advertising">as part of a $150 million round of funding</a> led by The Raine Group.&nbsp;</p>
<p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/foursquare-president-david-shim-explains-2019-pitch-deck-2019-8">We got the pitch deck Foursquare is using to sell advertisers location data &mdash; even as regulation and privacy concerns mount</a></em></p>
<p>The Foursquare acquisition is the second time Shim has sold his eight-year-old firm. In 2017, Snap acquired Placed for $135 million to help advertisers with attribution, a metric that tracks ad exposure with real-world purchases and foot traffic.</p>
<p>In January, Foursquare CEO Jeff Glueck approached Snap to see if it would be interested in selling Placed. Snap had acquired Placed when it didn't have a self-serve advertising platform or its own first-party location data. According to Shim, Snap wasn't looking to sell Placed but asked if Shim would be interested in meeting with Glueck.</p>
<p>"They were transparent and [said], 'someone reached out &mdash; do you want to have this conversation?'" Shim said.&nbsp;</p>
<p>From there, Shim said it became clear that Foursquare could help Placed grow more and become part of Foursquare's tech stack for marketers.&nbsp;</p>
<p>"That got me really excited to say, 'If Placed were a company that was only focused on location data, where would I go?" he said. "The answer was Foursquare."</p>
<p>Snap facilitated further talks between Foursquare and Placed from January until the acquisition closed in June.</p>
<p>Shim is now Foursquare's president and is working on pitching advertisers on the combined company and its goal of being a one-stop shop to power all of a marketer's location data.</p>
<h2>Shim stayed focused on solving measurement</h2>
<p>According to Shim, Placed's single focus on solving the complex metric of attribution helped it weather <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/location-based-ads-killed-by-confusing-tech-gdpr-shifting-consumers-2018-9">the tough market</a> of location tech firms that have struggled to stay profitable or pivoted their business into other areas.</p>
<p>"I want to build what web analytics did for the digital world for the physical world," Shim said.</p>
<p>39-year-old Shim founded Placed in 2011 after working in product and operation roles at Quantcast. At the time, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-iphone-sales-by-year-2016-4">sales of iPhones were gaining</a> traction and he saw an opportunity to build a data business that used phones' built-in location features to understand consumer behavior.</p>
<p>One of his biggest challenges early on was convincing investors that people would be willing to give their permission to have their location tracked. Plus, a number of check-in apps <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-gowalla-3-million-shares-2011-12">like Gowalla,</a> Foursquare, Google, and Facebook Places were already popular with consumers, and he didn't want to build another similar service.</p>
<p>So he built an app called Checkin King that allowed consumers to check-in to all of the services at the same time to aggregate all of the data together.</p>
<p>"I dove into a space where I thought there was no incumbent, there was no market at all," Shim said. "My biggest problem back in 2011 when I was raising funding was people were like 'people will never give you location data on an opt-in basis.'"</p>
<p>Shim then spent 18 months building out Placed's technology that used the data collected by the app to track the whereabouts of people who agreed to share their location without requiring consumers to check-in to locations.</p>
<p>By 2013, the firm had started working with retailers to find foot-traffic patterns around <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/placed-location-based-targeting-2013-10">big shopping days</a> like Black Friday.</p>
<p>But selling location data during slower shopping times of the year was tough. Shim said the sales cycle for location data ended up taking six to nine months and was typically based on specific campaigns that retailers were running as opposed to year-long deals.</p>
<p>"I was a little bit too ahead of the curve at the time because people didn't have use cases," Shim said. "I didn't want to go into advertising &mdash; I wanted to stay pure-play analytics."</p>
<p>In fact, Placed didn't hire a salesperson for the first two years. After a little nudging from investors and interest from advertisers, Placed started working with publishers and ad networks like Pandora and Millennial Media to measure the impact of advertising campaigns.</p>
<p>"I thought I had this organic demand, but I should have probably put more fuel on the fire &mdash; we were more conservative," he said.</p>
<h2>Snap insulated Placed from ad-tech disruption</h2>
<p>Shim said he didn't consider selling the company until he received an offer from Snap in 2017. But as the ad-tech industry got more crowded, it got harder for firms to differentiate themselves, and Snap allowed Placed to be "incubated outside of the ad-tech ecosystem," Shim said.</p>
<p>Placed raised $13.4 million before being acquired by Snap in 2017.</p>
<p>"If you look at the location space, there's been a lot of turbulence &mdash; you've seen a lot of people fall off," Shim said. "These companies are shrinking because the market doesn't want to fund some of these companies."</p>
<p>When Foursquare's Glueck approached Snap to see if it would be interested in selling Placed in January, Shim knew Glueck from working in the industry as a competitor. The two had met up for lunch in 2016 to talk about a possible merger that didn't work out.</p>
<p>Shim met with Glueck and <span>Gary Little from The Raine Group (who is also a board member for Foursquare) to talk about the long-term plan for Foursquare and its $150 million round of funding.</span></p>
<p><span>Shim also personally invested "seven figures" into Foursquare, though he declined to say the exact amount that he invested.</span></p>
<p><span>"It wasn't just Foursquare wanting to buy Placed for the name or customer list," he said. "[It was about] being the single platform for location."</span></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/david-shim-talks-about-selling-placed-to-snap-and-foursquare-2019-8#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lessons-from-the-lions-cmos-reveal-best-campaigns-jealous-2019-7">The top CMOs in the world share the campaigns they wish they had thought of</a></p> https://www.businessinsider.com/foursquare-president-david-shim-explains-2019-pitch-deck-2019-8We got the pitch deck Foursquare is using to sell advertisers location data — even as regulation and privacy concerns mounthttps://www.businessinsider.com/foursquare-president-david-shim-explains-2019-pitch-deck-2019-8
Fri, 09 Aug 2019 15:35:03 -0400Lauren Johnson
<p><img src="https://static5.businessinsider.com/image/5d4c6fb31a700d124d24e807-1317/screen shot 2019-08-08 at 25305 pm.png" border="0" alt="Foursquare president David Shim" data-mce-source="Foursquare" data-mce-caption="Foursquare president David Shim" /></p><p></p>
<ul class="summary-list">
<li><strong>Foursquare acquired Placed from Snap in May, and it's since started pitching agencies on its plans to be a one-stop shop for location data.</strong></li>
<li><strong>In a pitch deck it shared with Business Insider, Foursquare touted its scale, accuracy, and trustworthiness.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Marketers are asking more questions about privacy regulation in light of laws like the California Consumer Privacy Act, set to go into effect next year.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Foursquare also shared plans to give marketers quicker access to measurement and to remove audience overlap, addressing a big question advertisers had about the combined company.</strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prime?module=article&amp;area=summary">Click here for more BI Prime stories</a>.</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>Foursquare's play to become <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/foursquares-acquisition-of-placed-will-shake-up-location-based-advertising">the biggest location-based advertising company</a> is getting clearer.</p>
<p>In May, Foursquare acquired the location-measurement firm Placed from Snap with a $150 million funding round led by The Raine Group.</p>
<p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/marketers-react-to-foursquares-acquisition-of-placed-2019-5">Marketers see Foursquare's acquisition of Snap's Placed as a game-changer for location-based advertising but question how it'll all work</a></em></p>
<p>Marketers have long been excited about using location-based advertising to track what people do after seeing an ad, but <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/location-based-ads-killed-by-confusing-tech-gdpr-shifting-consumers-2018-9">privacy regulations</a> have thrown that into question. Europe's General Data Protection Regulation and the California Consumer Privacy Act, set to go into effect next year, limit advertisers' ability to use people's mobile data for ad targeting. Some location-targeting firms have shifted their businesses to focus on data software and struggled to stay profitable.</p>
<p>Foursquare claims it's an outlier, though, with Foursquare and Placed together making more than $100 million last year.</p>
<p>David Shim, the founder of Placed and now Foursquare's president, shared the company's pitch with Business Insider.</p>
<h2>Foursquare wants to supply all marketers' data needs</h2>
<p>Foursquare collects location data from 13 million people who voluntarily share it in return for money or the use of Foursquare's apps to check in and discover locations. Foursquare said it is also approved to measure more than 450 partners including Twitter, Amazon and Roku.</p>
<p>Placed matches ad exposure with location data to see the stores and locations people visit after viewing an ad. But until it was acquired by Foursquare, Placed lacked other kinds of location data that marketers use for ad targeting or tools that help developers and publishers plug location into apps, Shim said. Now it can provide the entire location tech stack &mdash; similar to The Trade Desk's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-trade-desks-2019-investor-day-amazon-ott-att-2019-3">tech stack</a> that powers programmatic ads across display, mobile, and connected TV.</p>
<p>"In two months, we've seen a lot of traction in getting deeper with agencies," he said. "Agencies are telling us that they want a single solution that can do all things well."</p>
<p>These two slides in Foursquare's pitch deck show its scale and the breadth of its business.</p>
<p><img src="https://static6.businessinsider.com/image/5d4c81992bdf78159c45ecf7-1431/screen shot 2019-08-08 at 24052 pm.png" border="0" alt="Foursquare pitch deck 1" data-mce-source="Foursquare" data-mce-caption="Foursquare pitch deck" /></p>
<p><img src="https://static5.businessinsider.com/image/5d4c81cf558a35178e745512-1436/screen shot 2019-08-08 at 15838 pm.png" border="0" alt="Foursquare pitch deck 2" data-mce-source="Foursquare" /></p>
<h2>Marketers are asking new questions about privacy</h2>
<p>With California's privacy law coming, Shim said advertisers were asking how Foursquare gets people's permission to use their location and where its data comes from. It's similar to the questions they asked <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-ad-viewability-problem-explained-2015-1">several years ago</a> when they realized that many ads were going unseen because of ad fraud and bots.</p>
<p>Shim said Foursquare's first-party panel data gave it a leg up over competitors. Under Snap's ownership, Placed was required by the Federal Trade Commission to follow the same security rules Snap must meet as a public company. Foursquare has a direct relationship with consumers through its own apps, which distinguishes its first-party data, he said.</p>
<h2>Foursquare is working toward faster measurement</h2>
<p>Foursquare said it was speeding up its delivery so advertisers would get location-data reports daily instead of after weeks or months. Marketers will also get weekly reports comparing the performance of digital and TV ads, Shim said.</p>
<p>By this fall, it plans to have eliminated any audience overlap between Foursquare and Placed, addressing an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/marketers-react-to-foursquares-acquisition-of-placed-2019-5">agency concern</a>.</p>
<p>It's also working to measure metrics like <a href="https://enterprise.foursquare.com/intersections/article/Foursquare-Expands-Attribution-Solution-with-New-Channel-Measurement-for-Out-of-Home/">incremental lift</a> to show how ads affect people's decisions to go to a given location.</p>
<p>"In the early days, measurement in location was about seeing an ad and going to a store," Shim said. "A lot of the partners we work with now are looking at the cost per incremental visit versus the cost per visit."</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/foursquare-president-david-shim-explains-2019-pitch-deck-2019-8#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/general-mills-cmo-brad-hiranaga-marketers-job-create-markets-2019-8">General Mills chief brand officer says marketers should not focus on creating advertising, but creating markets</a></p> https://www.businessinsider.com/top-stories-in-advertising-and-media-this-week-2019-6Foursquare's pivot, Mondelez's challenge to agencies, Instagram's pitch to advertisershttps://www.businessinsider.com/top-stories-in-advertising-and-media-this-week-2019-6
Tue, 04 Jun 2019 17:19:41 -0400Lucia Moses
<p><img class="center float_right" src="https://static6.businessinsider.com/image/5cf6873811e2053c8f65d398-2400/jeff four2.jpg" border="0" alt="Foursquare CEO Jeff Glueck" data-mce-source="Ben Hider / Stringer" data-mce-caption="Foursquare CEO Jeff Glueck" /></p><p></p>
<p>Hello!</p>
<p>Welcome to your weekly Advertising and Media Insider newsletter, where we catch you up on all the big stories we worked on this past week. What did we miss? Send me tips or feedback at lmoses@businessinsider.com.</p>
<p>Remember when people used Foursquare to broadcast their location? There's a graveyard of social apps that didn't make it, but Foursquare is a rare one that pivoted to build a new business by targeting people with ads based on their real-world location.</p>
<p>Last week, Lauren Johnson <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/foursquares-acquisition-of-placed-will-shake-up-location-based-advertising">talked to the CEO of Foursquare</a> about how the company, armed with $150 million in funding, is trying to become a location-based ad powerhouse with its purchase of Placed from Snap and potentially others.</p>
<p>The practice of targeting ads to people based on their mobile phone location is being challenged by the rise of privacy regulation, but Foursquare maintains its business is safe because it's based on people opting in to share their location.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Here are other stories we've been reporting. (Read most of the articles here by subscribing to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/subscription/prime-vip">BI Prime</a>; use promo code AD2PRIME2018 for a free month.)</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oreo-maker-mondelez-demanding-ad-agencies-be-accountable-2019-6">Oreo maker Mondelez's CEO says he's going to hold ad agencies more accountable &mdash; here's how</a></strong><br />Joining other marketers that are demanding more of their ad agencies, the CEO of Mondelez International said he's pushing them to align their fees with the results they deliver. He also called out the challenges of digital advertising and said the company had to be more careful about its use of the medium.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/instagram-exec-says-more-stories-ads-are-likely-coming-2019-5">Instagram's</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/instagram-exec-says-more-stories-ads-are-likely-coming-2019-5"> head of business says that there's 'definitely headroom' for stuffing more ads in the app &mdash; and it shows how vital Stories are to Facebook's future</a></strong><br />Facebook is increasingly looking to Instagram to drive its ad revenue growth. One of its top execs talked through how the app is trying to get advertisers to spend more there, especially on its Stories format.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-wall-street-journal-talks-about-broadening-its-audience-2019-5">'No shortage of ambition': A top Wall Street Journal exec lays out her plan to reach the next generation of subscribers</a></strong><br />The Wall Street Journal has 2.6 million subscribers to archrival The New York Times' 4.5 million, but it's aiming to grow that number by making its content more widely available to new readers, including making content especially tailored to college kids and young adults.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-acquires-sizmeks-ad-server-to-compete-with-google-2019-5">Amazon is acquiring an ad server from bankrupt ad-tech firm Sizmek, giving it a new tool to compete head-on with Google. Here's what it means for marketers.</a></strong><br />Amazon said it planned to acquire the ad server and creative tools from bankrupt ad-tech firm Sizmek to help it compete with Google. The jury's still out with industry insiders as to whether the pending acquisition will help the e-commerce giant expand its ad business, though.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/barstool-sports-created-a-1-million-incubator-to-help-startups-2019-5">Barstool Sports is creating a $1 million incubator program to help jump-start the next Casper</a></strong><br />Everyone is trying to cash in on built-on-digital companies like Casper and Hims. The latest is Barstool Sports, which is looking to match its culture and sports brand with startups that are aiming at the same young male audience (and don't mind being associated with a company that's faced accusations of toxicity and misogyny).</p>
<p>Here are other tech, media, and advertising stories you should check out:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerberg-security-chief-liam-booth-misconduct-allegations-facebook-2019-5">Mark Zuckerberg's personal security chief accused of sexual harassment and making racist remarks about Priscilla Chan by 2 former staffers</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-hulu-us-usage-soared-last-two-years-survey-2019-5">The share of Americans watching Amazon and Hulu has soared in recent months, while other streaming services lag behind</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kevin-hart-hartbeat-productions-is-growing-as-a-hitmaker-2019-6">Inside Kevin Hart's 10-year journey to make his production company into a Hollywood hit maker</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-exec-measuring-tv-show-and-movie-marketing-success-2019-5">'First streams' and other ways an Amazon exec says he evaluates marketing success for original TV series like 'Good Omens'</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/neil-gaiman-making-amazon-good-omens-series-2019-5">AT&amp;T was mostly to blame for pay TV's bleak quarter, and analysts say the rest of 2019 looks even worse</a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-stories-in-advertising-and-media-this-week-2019-6#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/general-mills-cmo-brad-hiranaga-marketers-job-create-markets-2019-8">General Mills chief brand officer says marketers should not focus on creating advertising, but creating markets</a></p> https://www.businessinsider.com/marketers-react-to-foursquares-acquisition-of-placed-2019-5Marketers see Foursquare's acquisition of Snap's Placed as a game-changer for location-based advertising but question how it'll all workhttps://www.businessinsider.com/marketers-react-to-foursquares-acquisition-of-placed-2019-5
Mon, 03 Jun 2019 10:10:00 -0400Lauren Johnson
<p><img src="https://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5cf1ac2111e2053c58219b75-2400/jeff four2.jpg" border="0" alt="Foursquare CEO Jeff Glueck" data-mce-source="Ben Hider / Stringer" data-mce-caption="Foursquare CEO Jeff Glueck" /></p><p></p>
<ul class="summary-list">
<li><strong>Foursquare said that it plans to acquire Placed from Snap as it seeks to build a location company giant.</strong></li>
<li><strong>The two companies plan to incorporate some of their features like measurement tools.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Marketers hope the acquisition will bring some needed consolidation to location-based advertising but question aspects, such as whether Placed will be independent under Foursquare.</strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p>Backed by a fresh $150 million in funding led by The Raine Group, Foursquare wants to dominate location-based advertising that marketers use to target and measure campaigns.</p>
<p>On May 31, Foursquare announced that it is acquiring measurement firm Placed from Snap and will combine some of their products for marketers, including tools that measure ad exposure with foot traffic. For example, Placed's attribution product will become Foursquare's flagship measurement tool and will expand to include the 100 million devices in the US that Foursquare reaches through all the apps it powers.</p>
<p><em><strong>Read more:</strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/foursquares-acquisition-of-placed-will-shake-up-location-based-advertising">'It changes the dynamics of the industry': Foursquare wants to own location-based advertising with its acquisition of Snap's Placed and potentially others"</a></em></p>
<p>"Clients and investors want to see a clear leader and eventually an independent location-tech, public company that can be an alternative in so many areas &mdash; not just in marketing and advertising, but in health and real estate and augmented reality and autonomous vehicles," said Foursquare CEO Jeff Glueck.</p>
<h2><strong>Advertisers welcome a bigger location company</strong></h2>
<p>Tech firms specializing in location help marketers target ads and see which stores people visited after seeing an ad, but their <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/location-based-ads-killed-by-confusing-tech-gdpr-shifting-consumers-2018-9">explosion in recent years</a> has created confusion, agencies say. But location firms use different measurement methods, which makes it complicated to use them, said Barry Lowenthal, CEO of The Media Kitchen.</p>
<p>A retailer or a fast-food restaurant might work with several location companies for a single campaign, said Philip Tesoriero, director of planning for Carat US and co-chair of Carat's Mobile Council. Carat's parent agency Dentsu Aegis Network works with up to a dozen, he said.</p>
<p>"The location targeting and measurement space is immensely crowded," said Jay Friedman, president of programmatic advertising agency Goodway Group. "Combining two different providers helps Foursquare establish a stronger position."</p>
<h2>Deal raises questions about Placed's independence</h2>
<p>Dan Elddine, head of data strategy for North America at Essence, said Foursquare's focus on first-party data with the acquisition could alleviate advertisers' privacy concerns.</p>
<p>"There's this whole nebulous side of background data collected in long-tail apps," he said. "This shines more light on where that data comes from and how users opt into that process."</p>
<p>But while Foursquare and Placed collectively reach a big audience, Carat's Tesoriero said he wants to understand how the two companies' products and audiences overlap. According to Foursquare, the two companies' opt-in panel of 30 million consumers does not overlap.</p>
<p>Similar to the challenges under Snap's ownership, Tesoriero also said it's not clear how Placed will remain independent if it ends up measuring the same ads that Foursquare sells.</p>
<p>"When it comes to foot-traffic attribution, we don't like to have the measurement partner also run media and grade their own homework," he said.&nbsp;</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/marketers-react-to-foursquares-acquisition-of-placed-2019-5#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/general-mills-cmo-brad-hiranaga-marketers-job-create-markets-2019-8">General Mills chief brand officer says marketers should not focus on creating advertising, but creating markets</a></p> https://www.businessinsider.com/foursquares-acquisition-of-placed-will-shake-up-location-based-advertising'It changes the dynamics of the industry': Foursquare wants to own location-based advertising with its acquisition of Snap's Placed and potentially othershttps://www.businessinsider.com/foursquares-acquisition-of-placed-will-shake-up-location-based-advertising
Fri, 31 May 2019 18:15:50 -0400Lauren Johnson
<p><img src="https://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5cf15e1011e205339f714695-832/foursquarepng.png" border="0" alt="Foursquare's Jeff Glueck and David Shim" data-mce-source="Foursquare" data-mce-caption="Foursquare CEO Jeff Glueck and president David Shim" /></p><p></p>
<ul class="summary-list">
<li><strong>Foursquare's acquisition of Snap's Placed reflects the latest round of consolidation of ad-tech firms as marketers demand scale to justify putting money in the space.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Foursquare CEO Jeff Glueck said the company might buy other location companies and floated the idea of going public.</strong></li>
<li><strong>He said Foursquare addresses privacy concerns because users agree to share data about themselves.</strong></li>
<li><strong>For its part, Snap says it is working on its own mapping technology and self-serve ad platform.</strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p>A lot of ad-tech companies sell location data to marketers, and Foursquare wants to become the biggest.</p>
<p>The location-based firm on May 31 announced plans to acquire rival firm Placed from Snap. Placed and Foursquare collect first-party data from 30 million consumers to help advertisers understand how seeing an online ad leads people to shop offline. Foursquare and Placed claim that more than 1,000 advertisers use their location tech to run and measure campaigns.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Foursquare also provides targeting and measurement tools for advertisers and publishers, and powers location tools for developers in 150,000 apps, including Twitter, Uber, and AccuWeather.</p>
<p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/marketers-react-to-foursquares-acquisition-of-placed-2019-5">Marketers see Foursquare's acquisition of Snap's Placed as a game-changer for location-based advertising but question how it'll all work</a><br /></em></p>
<p>Marketers have long been interested in targeting ads to consumers based on their location. Challenges around privacy, regulation, and complex methods of targeting have caused ad-tech companies to lose steam in recent years, though. Regulation like Europe's General Protection Data Regulation and the forthcoming California Consumer Privacy Act makes it harder for advertisers to use location data collected from mobile phones for ad targeting.</p>
<p>Foursquare CEO Jeff Glueck said in an interview that Placed and Foursquare address those concerns because people are voluntarily sharing their data, which makes the companies an anomaly outside of advertising's big walled gardens.</p>
<h2>Foursquare hints at more acquisitions</h2>
<p>He also said that advertisers want to be able to mix first-party and third-party data, and that in addition to first-party data, Foursquare and Placed have third-party data that they use to confirm location accuracy.</p>
<p>Glueck said Foursquare is open to other acquisitions and hinted that the company could go public.</p>
<p>"Clients and investors want to see a clear leader and eventually an independent location-tech, public company that can be an alternative in so many areas &mdash; not just in marketing and advertising, but in health and real estate and augmented reality and autonomous vehicles," he said.</p>
<p>Glueck said he approached Snap in January about buying Placed. Foursquare has worked with Snap <a href="https://www.adweek.com/digital/snapchat-signs-data-deal-foursquare-better-targeted-geofilters-174627/">for several years</a> to power some of its features, such as geofilters. Snap <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/snapchat-buys-placed-to-help-advertisers-track-foot-traffic-store-purchases-2017-6">purchased Placed</a> for $135 million in 2017.</p>
<p>"I think it was very important to Snap to see Placed grow even faster, and they recognized that they could grow even faster inside a location-focused independent company where they can be agnostic of any big media companies," Glueck said.</p>
<p>Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it is backed by a new $150 million investment led by The Raine Group. The 10-year-old company has raised more than $390 million, <a href="https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/foursquare#section-funding-rounds">according to Crunchbase.</a> In addition to paying for Placed, Foursquare will use the funding for research and development and expansion.</p>
<p>Foursquare and Placed made more than $100 million in combined revenue last year, according to Foursquare. As part of the acquisition, Placed's team will join Foursquare and its founder David Shim will become president of Foursquare.</p>
<p>"It just makes sense to create a very clear, undisputed leader in the location space," he said. "It changes the dynamics of the industry a lot."</p>
<h2>Some marketers are baffled by Snap's decision to sell Placed</h2>
<p>Placed helped Snap's marketers measure foot traffic from their campaigns, and some agencies were caught off guard by Snap's decision to sell the firm.</p>
<p>Dan Elddine, the head of data strategy for North America at Essence, said marketers thought Placed would get a boost in first-party data from Snap's users, but that it didn't happen.</p>
<p>"When you make a big move like this and then two years later you sell it off, what happened there?" Philip Tesoriero, director of planning for Carat US and cochair of Carat's mobile council, said. "I would love to know."</p>
<p>Benoit Grouchko, CEO of the location firm Teemo, said that there was a conflict between Snap selling ads and then measuring their performance.</p>
<p>"It shone light on the fact that companies like Snap &mdash; or any other digital advertising platform &mdash; &nbsp;can't both sell advertising and provide a measurement solution," he said. "Either you do measurement or you run advertising, but you can't do both."</p>
<p>In a statement, Snap said Placed would be Snap's preferred attribution partner. Snap said it didn't have its self-serve advertising platform when it acquired Placed, but that it has since focused on first-party offerings like its Maps product and its <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/report-snapchat-buys-zenly-2017-6">acquisition of social map Zenly</a> versus the third-party data that Placed provides.</p>
<p>"We are big fans of Foursquare and Placed," Jeremi Gorman, the chief business officer at Snap, said. "Together, they're a powerhouse in location technology and measurement, and we are excited to see how they invent the future of location. We look forward to continuing to work with them in many capacities, including measurement and location data, as we focus on building on the growing momentum in our advertising business."</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/foursquares-acquisition-of-placed-will-shake-up-location-based-advertising#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lessons-from-the-lions-cmos-reveal-best-campaigns-jealous-2019-7">The top CMOs in the world share the campaigns they wish they had thought of</a></p> https://www.businessinsider.com/snapchat-paid-213-million-for-zenly-and-135-million-for-placed-2017-8Snap confirms that it paid $213 million to buy Zenly and $135 million for Placed (SNAP)https://www.businessinsider.com/snapchat-paid-213-million-for-zenly-and-135-million-for-placed-2017-8
Fri, 11 Aug 2017 14:39:55 -0400Alex Heath
<p><img style="float:right;" src="https://static4.businessinsider.com/image/598df6a6cb9701311e8b4993-1581/ap335236285571.jpg" alt="Evan Spiegel Miranda Kerr" data-mce-source="AP Images"/></p><p></p>
<p><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stock/SNAP-Quote">Snap Inc.</a> has confirmed the price tags for its acquisitions of Zenly and Placed.</p>
<p>The Snapchat maker paid $213 million in cash for Zenly in May and $135 million for Placed in July, according to <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1564408/000156459017017303/snap-10q_20170630.htm">documents filed with the SEC</a> on Friday.</p>
<p><a href="https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/21/snapchat-buys-zenly/">TechCrunch</a> reported that Snap had bought France-based Zenly for at least $250 million shortly after <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/snapchat-snap-maps-feature-shows-where-your-friends-are-2017-6">the debut of Snap Maps</a>, but Snap hadn&#39;t officially confirmed the acquisition or price tag until now. Zenly built a similar app to Snap Maps that let people see where their friends were on a map.</p>
<p>Snap <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/snapchat-buys-placed-to-help-advertisers-track-foot-traffic-store-purchases-2017-6">confirmed that it bought Seattle-based Placed</a> in early June, but never confirmed reports that <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2017/snapchat-parent-snap-acquires-placed-seattle-startup-tracks-consumer-location/">it paid over $200 million</a> for the ad tech startup. It turns out that Snap paid just $135 million in cash for Placed, which helps advertisers track real-world purchases and store visits.</p>
<p>Snap <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1564408/000119312517254869/d433010ds8.htm">separately disclosed</a> that Placed’s employee equity plan includes 550,038 shares worth roughly $6.6 million in stock options based on Snap’s current share price.</p>
<p>Snap also spent $62 million on acquiring &#34;a component of a business from a social advertising software company&#34; in June and &#34;all outstanding shares of a company that operates a cloud hosted platform for building content online&#34; in March. A company representative declined to name the two mystery buys.</p>
<p>That brings Snap&#39;s grand total of cash spent on acquisitions in 2017 to $<span>224 million, up from only $51 million in 2016. The company still has plenty of available cash to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/snapchat-had-acquisition-talks-with-adroll-as-it-seeks-to-grow-ad-tech-2017-7">continue its shopping spree</a> with roughly $3 billion in available assets as of June 30.<br/><br/></span></p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/snap-q2-earnings-results-2017-8" >Snap misses across the board for Q2 earnings, stock gets whacked</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/snapchat-paid-213-million-for-zenly-and-135-million-for-placed-2017-8#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rich-greenfield-there-is-just-one-way-for-snapchat-to-survive-facebook-2017-6">RICH GREENFIELD: There is just one way for Snapchat to survive Facebook</a></p> https://www.businessinsider.com/snapchat-buys-placed-to-help-advertisers-track-foot-traffic-store-purchases-2017-6Snapchat bought a company to help advertisers track people in the real world (SNAP)https://www.businessinsider.com/snapchat-buys-placed-to-help-advertisers-track-foot-traffic-store-purchases-2017-6
Mon, 05 Jun 2017 18:17:32 -0400Alex Heath
<p><img style="float:right;" src="https://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5935d73cb74af46e328b555d-1777/rtsxkb2.jpg" alt="snapchat" data-mce-source="Lucy Nicholson/Reuters" data-mce-caption="The logo of messaging app Snapchat is seen at a booth at TechFair LA, a technology job fair, in Los Angeles, California, U.S., January 26, 2017."/></p><p></p>
<p>Snapchat maker Snap Inc. has acquired Placed, a six-year-old company that helps advertisers track real-world purchases and store visits.</p>
<p>The acquisition comes as Snap has been ramping up its ad tracking capabilities with products <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/snapchat-helps-advertisers-track-people-based-on-stores-they-visit-with-new-tool-2017-4">that can measure foot traffic tied to in-app campaigns</a>.</p>
<p>Placed&#39;s more than 100 employees will continue to report to founder and CEO David Shim, who will report to Snap chief strategy officer Imran Khan.</p>
<p>Terms of the deal weren&#39;t announced, but <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2017/snapchat-parent-snap-acquires-placed-seattle-startup-tracks-consumer-location/">GeekWire reported</a> that the purchase price was for over $200 million. <span>Snap faces mounting pressure from Wall Street to grow its ad business and user base in the face of fierce competition from larger companies like Facebook. </span></p>
<p>Placed called itself the leader in &#34;<span>location-based attribution&#34; <a href="https://blog.placed.com/placed-joining-snap-inc/">in a blog post</a> announcing the acquisition on Monday, and noted that to date it has measured $500 million in advertising spend related to store visits.</span></p>
<p><span>&#34;By partnering with Snap, we will do even more,&#34; Shim wrote. &#34;Still working independently, Placed’s goal continues to be the adoption of a common yardstick that can measure the offline effectiveness of advertising across multiple platforms and publishers.&#34;</span></p>
<p><span>Snap has made a few acquisitions <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/snapchat-paid-30-million-to-acquire-addlive-2014-12">in the ad tech space</a> to date, and it recently <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/snap-acquired-tiny-drone-company-pushes-further-into-hardware-2017-5">bought a small drone startup</a> based in Los Angeles. In its most recent quarterly filing with the SEC, Snap disclosed that it paid $20 million in March for an unnamed &#34;cloud-hosted platform for building content online.&#34; A spokesperson declined to reveal the company.</span></p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/snapchat-helps-advertisers-track-people-based-on-stores-they-visit-with-new-tool-2017-4" >Snapchat is helping advertisers track people based on the stores they visit</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/snapchat-buys-placed-to-help-advertisers-track-foot-traffic-store-purchases-2017-6#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wpp-ceo-sir-martin-sorrell-ces-interview-2017-1">WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell on Snapchat becoming the 'third force' to Google and Facebook</a></p>